Good areas within commuting distance to London?

Ellejmorgan

flea72 wrote: »

Braintree and Colchester are cheaper than Chelmsford because the commute to London is longer, not because they are rougher.

F

A lot of Colchester is rough always has been town side is ok but some of the outer areas are terrible two estates in particular...

I don't think Colchester is any cheaper than Chelmsford, my old bedsit on the Harwich RD cost £65 per week and that was in 1994..

Ellejmorgan

bunty109 wrote: »

I'll chip in its a recommendation for Bishop's Stortford. Close to Stansted, good schools if/when you need them. The villages to north of it are lovely e.g Clavering, Ugley.

I'm another one for saying no to Harlow. It has a fair amount of green space but that's about it.

You don't know somewhere truly until you live there..

I do agree with Stortford though, I passed my driving test there..

peachyprice

Ellejmorgan wrote: »

Yes a lot of Harlow is gorgeous, Church Langley, Summners, Grey Goose Park, Fir Trees, ST Johns, most of Old Harlow, Newhall & The Maples and that's straight off the top of my head...

I think we must have differing ideas of what a 'gorgeous' area is. None of those parts of Harlow do it for me.

bunty109

Ellejmorgan wrote: »

You don't know somewhere truly until you live there..

I do agree with Stortford though, I passed my driving test there..

You don't know where I live

If I had my choice of all the suggestions made, I'd go for Cambridge. Lots of character, generally nice areas and lovely surrounding countryside. And I don't live there (would love to!)

Debt_Free_Chick

OK, so you want to be within commuting distance of London, but also easy reach of WCML so you can get back to the NW.

There are plenty of lovely places in the (South) Midlands. But the problem with WCML is that from Birmingham, the fast trains only then stop at Coventry and, sometimes, Watford. So if you lived in between, you'd be on a stopping service, which would lengthen the commute. Although, MK is a good choice as you can get a faster service to London from there.

Having said that, Northamptonshire is delightful. If you look at the area between Northampton itself and MK, you would have the option of commuting from MK to London and also from MK on WCML to the NW.

I'd suggest looking at somewhere between Northampton, Brackley and MK - you can draw that map on Rightmove and have a look from there. The A5 is a reasonably good route in to MK - I assume that if you have to go to the office, then you'll drive to the station? If you lived in the southwest of that area, you'd also be able to drive to Bicester and get a Chiltern Lines train in to Marylebone.

Ellejmorgan

bunty109 wrote: »

You don't know where I live

If I had my choice of all the suggestions made, I'd go for Cambridge. Lots of character, generally nice areas and lovely surrounding countryside. And I don't live there (would love to!)

I understand.

I don't know Cambridge at all, given the choice I'd live in Devon or Cornwall...

bunty109

Ellejmorgan wrote: »

I understand.

I don't know Cambridge at all, given the choice I'd live in Devon or Cornwall...

If you're nearby and not been to Cambridge it's lovely for days out. The tea room in Grantchester where Rupert Brooke lived is lovely on a nice day....if we ever get one! Need to get down to Cornwall more as I loved it when we were there.

Ellejmorgan

bunty109 wrote: »

If you're nearby and not been to Cambridge it's lovely for days out. The tea room in Grantchester where Rupert Brooke lived is lovely on a nice day....if we ever get one! Need to get down to Cornwall more as I loved it when we were there.

I think you know where I live

I'm not a tea room sort of girl but I do want to take the kids to Duxford..

I'd swap my house for one in Cornwall or Devon in a heartbeat, I wouldn't need persuading..

Where do you go to down there ??

Sooki

Stafford is on the west coast mainline there is plenty of reasonable priced housing within easy walking distance of the station and regular trains that take 1 hour 15 mins straight into Euston, travel prices are a bit steep though but there are also london midland trains that take a lot longer but are much cheaper.

mark55man

coming late to the party - but suggestions around Milton Keynes and some of the villages around there - very rural, not too expensive not too far from IKEA - heart of the country really

but really I agree you should fight to stay home based - can't believe they would insist and incur considerable costs.